Barcode Label Solutions Blog

Hospital barcode label printing can help prevent medication errors.  Statistics on preventable medical mistakes are sobering and have caught the attention of governmental agencies like the FDA, as well as the general media.  This can create very bad publicity for a hospital trying to explain a medically-preventable error.

While the clinical applications for thermal printers are very important, don't underestimate the value that this technology offers to non-clinical hospital functions, such as inventory management and asset tracking. Hospital inventory management is a huge challenge today.  "Modern hospitals utilize a mind-boggling array of equipment and supplies from the most modern and high-tech devices like specialized stents and catheters for heart surgery, to everyday items, such as gauze bandages and protective pads. Hospitals utilize mountains of various food products to feed their patients and staff and even keep an inventory of teddy bears, balloons, and greeting cards for the gift shop," says HIMSS. 

Hospital barcoding helps improve patient safety.  Wristbands with barcode data printed at patient registration help to clearly identify the patient, any medication allergies, chronic health conditions and other patient-critical information. Thermal printers are ideally suited for printing many small images and bar codes with a sharp, long-lasting, highly reliable, scanable image. Patients' wristbands stay with them throughout their hospital visit and so the printed images must withstand exposure to a variety of substances, such as moisture, sanitizers, chemicals and solvents. Likewise, barcode labels used in hospital environments must have the same properties.  That's why, says the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), you should "print on fluid-resistant labels using thermal printers." 

To learn more about hospital barcoding, get our free ebook, Hospital Barcoding.